Head of Race and Market Development – Formula 1
Formula 1

Race Promotion is a key pillar of Formula 1’s business, contracting and delivering the live platform where fans can experience the thrill and entertainment of the sport. The Race Promotion Team works with Promoters of existing races as well as negotiating the inclusion of new races on the Championship calendar, in line with Formula 1’s strategic commercial objectives.

This role leads, develops and manages a strategically selected group of race promoters within the F1 eco-system with the goal of a continued evolution of the market and the commercial opportunity with each promoter, race, and the market destination the race takes place within.

This position is responsible for developing the commercial opportunities within these markets and ensuring continued excellence by both the promoter and F1 in the delivery of the annual race. 

The Head of Race Development supports all business effort of a portfolio of promoter markets. He/she will assist promoters/markets in applying best practices learned from other promoters, sports, events, and industries. This includes development and implementation of best practices in the areas of: marketing, ticketing, digital, event operations, H&S, security, M&TC, partnerships, broadcast & production.

Each race/market within your portfolio will require a different approach and you will work with the senior leadership, subject matter experts, and other stakeholders across F1 to bring those insights, learnings, and solutions to race/market.

This role requires a strong business development acumen, a laser focus on driving efficiency and productivity, and commercial opportunities while demonstrating a deep analytical skillset. It calls for a unique confluence of ingenuity and meticulous attention to detail that delivers flawless execution and management across the 6 races and markets each year – evolving, transforming, and creating unrivalled events, to promote the racing spectacle whilst also developing event opportunities to sit alongside the racing.

A highly visible and cross-functional role, demanding presentation skills, collaboration, and influence with every constituent in the organization and many of our most important external stakeholders including partners, broadcasters, and government stakeholders.

A dedicated people manager, this candidate empowers and inspires team members while cultivating top talent and creating a culture of excellence. Working with the senior management team of Race Promotions to ensure continued growth, efficiency, and creativity across all the F1 key markets and races.

This leader balances data-driven decision making, proactive issue spotting and creative thinking with long-term vision. They continuously translate strategies into actionable department-level performance metrics and globally scalable learnings that can be utilized across markets and races.

The optimal candidate clearly communicates a shared definition of success and is focused on building and working within a team of leaders. This person thrives on making the sum of the whole greater than the parts. They are experienced at delivering polished executive-level work product and outperforming goals. They know how to find efficiencies and they can train others to do the same. The optimal candidate also has strong relationships in the entertainment and sports industry in a diverse background of markets.

Responsibilities

• Oversee daily relations and operations across 6 key markets/races, working with F1 promoters to deliver operational excellence.
• Work as part of the senior leadership team in Race Promotions to host and present best practices at cross market workshops throughout the year both within your portfolio and supporting with learnings in others.
• Identify commercial opportunities in market and work with the Special Projects teams to develop and deliver multi touch point events within market.
• Manage cross-functional teams and a network of vendors to ensure that service level agreements, budgets, timelines, and operational standards are met across those markets
• Work closely and collaboratively with the fellow Head of Race Development positions to ensure consistency in reporting across markets and to share knowledge. Supporting one another to ensure the complimentary skills are utilized cross market where required.
• Monitor progress of key initiatives and priorities by meeting regularly with operational leaders to track results, draw/share insights, and problem solve.
• Assess, evaluate, and coach Promoter Relationship manager team – celebrate each team success.
• Develop executive-level reporting and dashboards on key stakeholder experience indicators and business performance metrics with a constant focus on strategic recommendations and process improvements.
• Cultivate a vision of excellence, sell in new ideas and gain support from stakeholders both internal and external
• Champion innovation and plans that enhance the experiences of key constituents, increase efficiency, and enable us to expand our business impact.
• Develop a deep understanding of the cross department F1 business and represent and support these key stakeholders to efficiently penetrate and develop promoters, races and markets in line with F1 strategy.
• Document, implement, and train key processes, policies and procedures that deliver consistent global scale and facilitate growth of the business.
• Effectively outsource operations that improve efficiency without disrupting service level expectations.
• Evaluate and negotiate contracts with promoters and suppliers – implement unique deal structures that best serve business needs this includes supporting on all negotiations for promoter renewals within your markets
• Perform regular analyses of business operations and current business practices to make improvements.

About You

• Proven experience in international live events and within the sports industry.
• 10+ years of experience in building and leading teams within the sports and entertainment industry
• Able to see a commercial proposal through from concept to delivery.
• Strong understanding of event rights monetization and how rights and assets can be leveraged for mutual benefit within a partnership.
• Understanding of the importance of relationships and event benefits to a host city.
• Ability to adapt quickly to change and operate effectively in diverse cultural environments, creative problem solver.
• Proven experience and operational results in the live event industry
• Ability to multi-task and deliver results under pressure to a deadline.
• Expert project and client management skills with a proven track record of successfully managing multiple projects simultaneously
• Creative problem solver with demonstrated ability to design and optimize new processes and solutions that find efficiencies others could not
• Proficient in creating, managing, tracking, and reconciling multiple profitable large-scale budgets.
• Detailed knowledge of the sports media landscape and a deep bench of domestic and international event logistics contacts

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